


fight, flight or the screams

by growlery



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Canon-Typical Medical Accuracy, Gen, Serious Injuries, though there's not a lot of cyberpunk in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29723127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/growlery/pseuds/growlery
Summary: "Jeremy," Alvarez yells, "any idea why Renee Walker, Kevin Day and Neil Josten are on our doorstep with a body bag?"
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	fight, flight or the screams

"Jeremy," Alvarez yells, "any idea why Renee Walker, Kevin Day and Neil Josten are on our doorstep with a body bag?"

Jeremy's moving before she finishes speaking, at hers and Laila's side just in time to see Josten on the security cams finish picking the lock to the front door of the building. The cams follow the three of them - four, he thinks; Kevin and Walker are carrying the body between them with a lot of care for a corpse - into the old mechanical elevator, where Josten hits the button to their floor. 

Jeremy sucks a breath in through his teeth. Laila and Alvarez turn identical expectant looks on him, and he shrugs helplessly. "Nothing good, I assume."

There's a sharp knock at the door a few moments later. Jeremy holds up a hand, signalling for Laila and Alvarez to stay back, and goes to answer it. 

"Surprised you didn't just pick this lock, too," he says, with a passable imitation of his usual cheerfulness. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

Kevin opens his mouth to speak, but Walker beats him to it. "It's Jean," she says, and Jeremy was already on high alert, but it ratchets up several notches at that. 

"What's Jean?" he asks warily. 

"That is," Josten says, nodding over his shoulder at the body bag. 

Jeremy freezes, but Kevin adds, "He's not dead," cutting a look at Josten, "just very badly hurt."

"That will change quickly if he doesn't have a safe place to recover," Walker says calmly. "Kevin assures me this can be that place."

"Of course," Jeremy says automatically, ushering them in. He glances back to Laila and Alvarez, but sees no protest from them. "A heads up would've been nice, though."

"No time," Josten says, "and we couldn't risk the Ravens intercepting a message, anyway."

Jeremy leads Kevin and Walker to his own room, where they lay Jean gently down. 

"Ravens?" he hears Laila ask, behind them, and Jeremy's curious too, Jeremy very much needs an explanation for what is happening here, but Walker is unzipping the body bag and Jeremy can't pay attention to anything except the slow reveal of bloody, bruised skin. 

"What the fuck," he whispers, because Jean looks like he's been broken, physically broken apart, and if Jeremy couldn't see the slow rise and fall of his chest he wouldn't believe Jean had survived it. 

"I wish I could say it's not as bad as it looks," Kevin says grimly. He's rubbing at the seam of his cyberarm, absently, like he doesn't realise he's doing it. "But he hasn't had medical attention yet."

"We couldn't risk it," Walker cuts in before Jeremy can loudly protest that. "We've got a medtech on their way here as we speak."

"Pretty confident we would say yes, weren't you," Jeremy says, and Kevin shrugs. 

"We didn’t have a lot of options, otherwise," he says. "The Foxes would take him, of course, but Jean…"

"We don't think it's a good idea for him," Walker says, with a meaningful look at Kevin, who scowls back at her, but doesn't try and defend himself. "At least not if there's a better option."

Jeremy nods. "He'll be safe here," he promises, and Renee Walker looks at him with cold, hard eyes. Jeremy doesn't know her well, doesn't know her at all, really. He knows there's more to her than the crucifix around her neck and her carefully soft demeanour, but it doesn't take a genius to notice that's a facade. He sees the threat coiled in her; she doesn't have to tell him what the consequences will be if Jeremy breaks that promise. 

"There's someone else at the door," Alvarez yells, breaking the moment. "They're not breaking in this time, though."

Walker at least has the grace to wince, but Kevin doesn't seem to register the pointed remark at all, just jumps to his feet and says, "That'll be Abby."

Walker gets up too, somehow managing to herd Jeremy out of his own room without touching him at all. Jeremy's impressed, and more than a little discomfited, but not as much as when they re-enter the shared living space and only find Laila and Alvarez. 

Jeremy's not the only one. "Where the fuck did Neil go," Kevin sighs. 

"He left, like, immediately," Alvarez says. "Said he had other business to take care of."

"Motherfucker," Kevin hisses, and Walker looks alarmed. "We have to go. Thanks for taking Jean in. We'll be in touch. Oh, hey Abby," he says, when they open the door to leave. "Door on the left."

The door shuts. The medtech, Abby, gives them all a brief smile before heading straight into Jeremy's room to Jean. Jeremy stares after her for a second, then shakes his head. 

"Never a dull moment with the Foxes," he says wryly. "Josten say anything else before he scarpered?"

"Not a lot," Laila says, making a face, "but something big's happening with the Ravens. Riko lost his shit and took it out on Jean."

" _Riko_ did this?" 

"Apparently," Laila says grimly. "Josten wasn't very forthcoming with the details. Just said they were able to get Jean out of there in the chaos."

In a body bag. Jeremy rubs a hand over his face, suddenly exhausted. 

"Fuck," he says, succinctly, and Alvarez nods. 

&&

Jean wakes in an unfamiliar bed with absolutely zero memory of how he got there. He remembers Riko, remembers the pain, remembers grappling for his communicator and gasping something out to Renee. He struggles into a sitting position, biting back a sharp hiss that whistles out through his teeth. 

Then there is movement out of the corner of his eye, a figure approaching. Jean doesn’t think. Jean lashes out wildly, adrenaline burning hotter than the pain. The person yelps; it’s an oddly familiar noise. As is their voice when they say, “Ow, ow, _shit_ , Jean.”

Jean freezes. “Jeremy?”

“Yeah, hey,” says Jeremy Knox, who might be a rival but is definitely _not_ an enemy. 

Jean sags back against the wall, exhausted. He watches Jeremy’s gaze go to his chest through lidded eyes. 

“You’re bleeding through your bandage,” Jeremy says, crouching by the side of the bed. “Must have reopened the wound.” He glances up at Jean, brows furrowed. “I’m no medtech, but I can try and patch you up.”

“I just attacked you,” Jean says warily. “Why would you do that.”

Jeremy shrugs. “You panicked. You woke up in a strange place with a strange person after you’d been horribly beaten. I'm not gonna hold it against you.”

Jean looks at him for a moment. Then he says, “You _are_ very strange,” and he didn’t mean it to be a joke but Jeremy laughs. Jean is mystified, and more than a little dazzled by the brightness of Jeremy’s smile. It must be some kind of augment. 

Before Jean can ponder this further, the door bursts open, and two other familiar people rush inside the room. 

“What happened?” Alvarez demands. Laila, beside her, zeroes in on the gash across Jeremy’s cheek. 

“Everything’s fine,” Jeremy assures them, getting to his feet. “I’m just gonna get the medkit. Jean needs some more patching up.”

“He’s not the only one,” Laila says evenly. Jean holds in a flinch. Jeremy laughs. 

“Tis but a scratch,” he says cheerfully. 

Alvarez makes a noise that, even to Jean, sounds extremely dubious. She shares a look with Laila, but neither of them says anything else as they all leave the room, and Jean is left alone. Not for long, though - Jean feels like he barely blinks before Jeremy reappears in the doorway. Jean blinks, blinks again, but can’t clear the cotton wool in his head. 

“Hey, buddy,” comes Jeremy’s voice, softer than before. “Lie down for me?”

Jeremy might not be an enemy but that doesn’t make him trustworthy, especially when Jean has no idea how he ended up in his bed. He can only assume Renee found him and brought him here, but Renee is not necessarily a good judge of character. She’s still bothering with Jean, after all. Jean stubbornly remains sitting, even though his body’s getting increasingly hard to hold up. Jeremy’s mouth quirks, but he doesn’t push the issue. 

“Guessing you’re not thrilled about me touching you, either,” he says. 

“You can touch me,” Jean tells him. “I can’t promise I won’t flinch.”

Jeremy nods. “I’ll keep it to a minimum,” he promises, and gets to work. 

Sure enough, he barely touches Jean as he carefully peels back the bandage above Jean’s right hip, as he dabs away the blood with a damp cloth, as he pats on the dermal regen paste. Jean finds himself shivering, anyway; he doesn’t remember the last time he was touched with gentleness. 

“Thank you,” he says quietly, when Jeremy is done. Jeremy smiles at him, not his usual full wattage but something softer that looks no more real, no less like something out of a painting. 

“Try and get some more sleep,” he says, stepping back. “Holler if you need anything. I’ll be on the couch.”

Jeremy bends down, and when he straightens up, he’s holding a bundle of blankets and pillows. 

“You were sleeping on the floor?” Jean says, horrified. 

Jeremy shrugs. “I wanted to keep an eye on you, make sure you didn’t get worse in your sleep.” His smile turns wry. “Sorry I freaked you out.”

Jean doesn’t know what to say to that. It’s probably all the blood loss. Jeremy tips him a two-fingered salute and says, “Good night, Jean.”

“Good night,” Jean says automatically, his eyes following Jeremy all the way out of the door. 


End file.
